Parliament security breach | Act a well-planned conspiracy, Delhi Police tell court
The Hindu
parliament security breach case: Delhi Police seeks custody of 4 accused of security breach in Parliament, invoking anti-terror provisions of UAPA.
Seeking custody of the four persons, arrested for the security breach in Parliament on December 13, the Delhi Police told the Patiala House Court on December 14 that the accused had posted pamphlets on social media claiming Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be a “missing person” and “proclaimed offender”.
The Delhi Police have invoked anti-terror provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act on the accused, identified as Manoranjan D., Sagar Sharma, Amol Shinde, and Neelam Devi.
On December 14, the court granted the police a seven-day custody of all the accused.
Before taking a call on the police custody of the accused, the court provided legal aid to the accused as they were unrepresented. One of the accused submitted in the court that he hasn’t spoken to his family since arrest.
Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Srivastava informed Special Judge for NIA cases Hardeep Kaur that the act was “a well-planned conspiracy” and attack on the Parliament of India. Also, the accused could be associated with “terrorist organisations”.
“Please see the pamphlet [they posted on social media]. It has a picture of our Prime Minister who is shown as a ‘missing person’. They have declared a reward to be paid by a Swiss bank [for finding him]... they tried to show the PM as a ‘proclaimed offender’,” Mr. Srivastava said while seeking 15 days’ police remand of all the accused.
The police further submitted that the accused had created a social media group called ‘Bhagat Singh Fan Club’. They bought shoes from Lucknow and gas cannisters from Mumbai. The shoes had cavities to hide the canisters, the police said. Explaining why 15 days’ remand is necessary, the Delhi Police said the accused need to be taken to Mumbai and Lucknow for investigation.
“We are judges and therefore, cannot act like Mughals of a bygone era ... the writ courts in the guise of doing justice cannot transcend the barriers of law,” the High Court of Karnataka observed while setting aside an order of a single judge, who in 2016 had extended the lease of a public premises allotted to a physically challenged person to 20 years contrary to 12-year period stipulated in the law.
The High Court of Karnataka on Monday declined to interfere, at present, in the investigation against a Bharatiya Janata Party worker, who is among the accused persons facing charges of circulating obscene clips, related to “morphed” images and videos clips related to Prajwal Revanna, former Hassan MP, in public domain through pen drives and other modes.